Small schools see surge in enrollment

Two of the smallest schools in the north Flathead Valley have seen a surge in enrollment. West Glacier school now has 71 students, up about 20 over last year and Deer Park is up 26 students to 126.

Leaders at both schools say they take pains to make sure students are well-educated in a more personal and traditional setting.

“I really think the word is out we’re a smaller school with a quality education,” said Deer Park principal Dan Block.

Block said more families are moving into the Deer Park district, which has helped with enrollment, but the school attracts students from miles away, even Hungry Horse.

He said the growth has the school seriously considering upgrading its classrooms, particularly replacing a 1960s-era quonset hut that used to be the school gym, but is converted to classrooms. The school has a total of 10 teachers. Block isn’t just the principal, he teaches seventh and eighth grade math, Spanish and he coaches the girls basketball team and the cross-country team in the spring.

At West Glacier School, longtime teacher Carolyn Wieringa said the small school atmosphere is appealing to parents.

“I think we have a strong curriculum and strong teaching staff,” she said. She said the school attracts families from across the north end of the valley.

“I think it’s the small family-type atmosphere,” she said. “No one falls through the cracks.”

The school is literally a few hundred feet from the boundary of Glacier National Park and takes full advantage of having it in their backyard. Once a week students take a walk into the pPark and it’s not just a hike — they work the walk into the curriculum.

Last year students studied the water quality and changes in the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, this year they’re working on forests and the role of wildfire.

“The Park is a draw,” Wieringa noted.

Neither school has bus transportation. Parents have to drop their kids off in the morning and pick them back up in the afternoon.